There is a money tree
In my living room
With a braided
Fishtail trunk
And of these five
Interwoven strands
Only one of them
Has visible veins
Pumping water
For these plumed
Green leaves
Like dollar bills
But for the Chinese New Year
We don’t hang coin garlands
Or paper cranes
For prosperity
For Liu Haichan
The toad in the moon
The God of Wealth
No, my mother waters
The leaves
And my cat likes to
Eat them
While my father
Chases her away
For fear of bad luck;
Me, I just notice
The tree bending over
And sometimes I lay
A crooked leaf over
A straight one
In the hope it might
Correct itself
Because isn’t
Luck something
That’s made.